The present invention relates to a puzzle, which term will be understood herein to relate to a mechanical, electronic or combined electronic and mechanical device which has to be manipulated according to predetermined rules in order to achieve a certain result. Purely mechanical puzzles have been known for a long time, and prior art examples of mechanical puzzles include devices comprising a plurality of interlocking or interfitting parts, which may be made from any suitable material. Puzzles comprising integers of bent metal or shaped wood or plastics which have to be fitted together or released from one another in a particular order are well known.
The use of purely mechanical puzzles can develop physical skills, particularly the sense and recollection ion of three-dimensional orientation. One such three-dimensional puzzle which has recently met with considerable success is the so-called "Rubic-cube" which is an assembly of interfitting components having coloured faces which can be moved relatively with respect to one another across the faces by means of an interior spherical joint to which all the components are connected. The six faces of the cube have elements with six different characteristic colours which can be moved by relative rotation of different sets of integers into a disordered array which requires skill and knowledge to re-position with all the coloured face elements of one colour on each plane face of the cube. Such a puzzle is essentially "spatial" in the sense that there is no single predetermined sequence of movements which will achieve the desired result, but rather a plurality of different relative spatial positions which have to be occupied by the various integers.
Another prior art puzzzle, operated by an electronic processor, plays the childs game known as "Simon Says" by generating a code of tones and illuminating in sequence a set of buttons, which sequence has to be matched by the player subsequently depressing the buttons in an attempt to match the original sequence.